“So how are you going to explain this one to Elizabeth?” Rodney wondered as they trudged back toward the gate. “I mean, you just basically offered the Genii weapons, John, and with how you always seem to imitate Kirk, I’m really surprised you have never heard of a little something called the ‘Prime Directive.’”
John snorted, shaking his head. “Oh, please. The only person I know that’s anything like the characters from Star Trek is Beckett. I am nothing like Kirk.”
“Ha! Says the man who flirts with every alien person he comes across. Case in point, Sera.”
“Sora,” John corrected him.
“See! See! That’s exactly what I mean,” Rodney argued, snapping his fingers before jabbing one in John’s chest. “Anyway, so not the point right now. The point is, it is a bad idea to give weapons and technology to a people less advanced than yourself. Every episode where they do that in Star Trek is evidence of it.”
Shaking his head, John began dialing the gate. “Rodney, we’re not in Star Trek. And they don’t want to have the C4 to use as weapons, they’re going to use it to clear fields.”
Folding his arms over his P90, Rodney shot him an incredulous look. “Please, tell me you are not that gullible.” Seriously, he had to be joking, right? There was just no way that John would be stupid enough to believe what the Genii seemed to be selling – and Rodney wasn’t talking about tava beans. He still felt a small pang of disappointment that it hadn’t been javabeans. His supply of coffee was running dangerously low.
Sounding calm and with a look of extreme patience, John met his eyes. “They will get the C4, enough to clear a few fields, and along with the C4 will be a few Marines to ensure that is all it’ll be used for, because they will be the ones that have the detonators. And to make sure we get our Marines back the way we sent them out, I’ll be sending along a cloaked jumper for back up.”
Rodney blinked. “You don’t trust them.”
“I don’t trust them,” John intoned quietly with a slight dip of the head.
“But then, why-?” He was confused, head swiveling between John and back toward the village where Teyla and Ford were staying behind for the harvest festival. Teyla’s reaction to the invitation had been more than enough incentive for Rodney to not want to hang around, but now he began to wonder if he should have stayed with them. Were they safe?
Pulling Rodney toward the gate, John explained, “It’s a simple quid pro quo, Rodney. They have something we need, we have something they want. We scratch their back and hopefully, they will scratch ours. Or as the case may be, they’ll give us a large share of their crop. And that is exactly what I’ll tell Elizabeth, too.”
Rodney felt oddly proud as they stepped through the gate. Once back in Atlantis, he grinned at John. “You know, you’re a lot more devious than you look.”
John snorted. “Thanks? But let’s just keep that between you and me, okay? Our little secret.”
“What will be your little secret?” Elizabeth asked with a curious grin.
Eyes widened, Rodney scrambled to think of an excuse, but John beat him to the punch. “Well if I told you that, it wouldn’t be a secret anymore, now would it?”
Elizabeth narrowed her eyes, scrutinizing them. Folding her arms, she tried to keep from smiling. “Fair enough. So where’s the rest of your team, Major?”
John and Rodney shared a glance, then John jerked his head toward her office. As soon as they were inside, he started to explain what had happened, but once the words ‘give them some C4’ passed his lips, Elizabeth held up her hand. “Rodney, would you mind stepping outside for a moment. I need a word alone with Major Sheppard.”
Her eyes were hard and never left John, who gazed steadily back at her, though he did cast a brief, reassuring smile at Rodney. After a moment’s hesitation, Rodney cleared his throat and with one last look over his shoulder, he left the office. As soon as the door closed behind him, he could hear Elizabeth’s raised voice, “Give them C4? Major, what were you thinking?”
Rodney wanted to cringe but he held his head up, daring anyone to say anything. Grodin gave him a sympathetic look as he walked past him. Sighing, Rodney headed down the stairs, figuring he might as well swing by the mess hall for a snack. He had a feeling Elizabeth and John would be a little while.
Ioan fell into step as he walked toward the transporter. “Everything alright?” he asked quietly.
Shrugging, Rodney hit the control panel as soon as he was inside, sending them near the mess hall. “I don’t think Elizabeth’s too keen on Major Sheppard’s negotiation skills.”
Rodney told Ioan what had happened over coffee, and, when he was done, Ioan barked a laugh. “So he basically just violated the Prime Directive?”
Snapping his fingers, Rodney grinned with satisfaction. “See! That’s exactly what I told him, too! I think we need to give him a refresher course on all things Trek because the man is obviously way too much like Kirk and he doesn’t even realize it.”
Ioan laughed, twisting his empty cup back and forth. “Well, that shouldn’t be a problem. I think Teal’c made sure to add the entirety of Star Trek to the library, so we could totally have a themed movie night for the next few weeks.”
“Oh, I’m all for that. Seriously, the man needs to be better educated.”
“I do, huh?” John drawled from behind Rodney, causing him to jump.
Blushing slightly, Rodney put up a faux-confident front. “Major! Yes, you really do. Ioan’s already said he’ll help me-,” he started.
Ioan threw up his hands, interrupting him. “Hey, you leave me out of this. I have no desire to be on KP duty for the next two months – or worse.”
Rodney narrowed his eyes at Ioan, who grinned back unabashed. “Traitor,” Rodney hissed under his breath. “Just you remember who’s in charge of your hot water.”
“Relax, Lieutenant. I’ll let you off the hook. This time,” John said, amusement clear in his voice. “Well, Rodney, you ready to head back?”
Eyes widening, Rodney got to his feet. “Did she okay the deal?”
“Yes, Rodney,” John said patiently, “she okayed the deal, now come on. We gotta go or we’ll miss the whole harvest party.”
And wouldn’t that be a shame, Rodney thought. Casting a wary eye at John, Rodney wasn’t entirely sure the man was serious or not, but decided to just go with it. It was usually best, he’d found, to pretend he understood what people were doing and why, even if he didn’t have a clue. Though lately, he found himself actually wanting to understand the inner workings of one Major Sheppard.
As they made their way back to the gate, John led them away from the path they had been told to use. After about half an hour of walking, Rodney was certain they were lost. It had taken him that long to figure it out because he had been focusing on his handheld out of long habit. Looking up, he shook his head. “You have no idea which way to go, do you?” he asked, somewhat amused. It had become apparent over time that while John had a great sense of direction when flying, he was less able to figure out where to go when on foot.
John looked a little affronted as he always did upon being reminded of that particular failing. “I’m just trying to get my bearings.”
Rodney’s mouth twisted as he suppressed a smirk. “Translation: I’m lost.” He tried to keep his amusement out of his voice, he really did. Barely stifling a chuckle, Rodney flailed his arm in the general direction of the village – at least, he thought it was the direction of the village. “They were very clear on which route to take,” he reminded John.
“I prefer a straight line,” he grumped, stubbornly continuing along their path.
Rodney huffed softly. “Of course, because everything’s a shortcut in Sheppard’s world,” he murmured, peering at his handheld again. “Huh.” Well that was decidedly odd. “Okay, here it is again,” he muttered, frowning at the spike in energy he was reading.
“What?” John came to a halt, eyeing him expectantly.
Glancing up, Rodney pointed ahead. “I’m picking up a strange reading from right over there.” A barn? That just made no sense.
“Define ‘strange’,” John cut through Rodney’s thoughts.
Rodney blinked stupidly at him. “You don’t know what ‘strange’ means?” Seriously?”
Rolling his eyes, John pressed, “I know what ‘strange’ means, Rodney.”
“Weird, freakish, off,” Rodney spoke over him, even as John continued, “I’m just trying to determine whether it’s worth getting off the route back to the village.”
Waving his handheld, Rodney gave him an exasperated look. “It’s a radioactive reading and we’re in Amish world. Your call.” And the fact he was even putting the words ‘Amish’ and ‘radioactive’ in the same sentence was enough to weird Rodney out. There was something really ‘off’ about these people, he decided. Shaking his head, he added, “We’re lost anyway, what difference does it make?”
“I am not lost,” John insisted, squaring his shoulders a little. Rodney watched John’s face closely, wondering who the man was trying to fool. It was both an endearing and decidedly frustrating aspect of Sheppard, Rodney decided even as John said, “Alright. Let’s check it out.”
Yeah, Rodney was so not surprised by that. Sighing, he followed John. He had the sinking feeling their day was about to take a turn for the worse.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Major Sheppard took Ioan and Evan aside, leaving their teams to prepare for the mission, and met their eyes in turn. “I need for you to stay under the radar. Do not announce your presence until you hear from me. Is that clear?”
Ioan and Evan shared a glance, then both nodded. “Yes, sir.” It wouldn’t do to give their hand away too quickly to the Genii, Evan knew. Not after the briefing they had just had about them holding half of AR-1 hostage – and that was after them having threatened to kill the entire team outright. Allies, they were not. However, the Genii were the closest thing they had in Pegasus to a potential aid in taking out the Wraith and they were definitely determined to wipe them out, as evidenced by this little trip to blow up one of the Hive ships with one of the prototype nuclear bombs the Genii had created.
“Good. Evan, you’ll follow me on to the Hive ship.”
“Comms as usual? Ears only?” Evan asked, just to make sure.
“Affirmative,” Sheppard acknowledged. “Ioan, I want you to stay on the Genii homeworld and keep an eye on things. Once the mission is over, I fully expect them to double cross us, so when I say, you decloak immediately and be ready to fire a warning shot.”
Evan inclined his head. “Yes, sir. We have your six, sir.”
“Excellent. Alright, let’s move out,” Major Sheppard ordered, heading to jumper one.
Before Ioan could walk away, Evan grabbed his arm, frowning. “Be careful out there. I really don’t like the sound of those people,” he urged. He didn’t much care for the idea of leaving his little brother behind on that planet, but he trusted him to do his job, and he knew Sheppard was right.
Ioan smiled reassuringly. “Of course, Ev. As long as you’re careful, too. I’m not the one searching out a Hive ship.”
Flashing Ioan a grin, he let go. “You know me, Ioan. I don’t go looking for trouble.”
Ioan huffed. “Yeah, but it always seems to find you anyway,” he retorted.
Evan smiled at the old, familiar exchange. “Go on. Before we’re both reprimanded.”
With a brief salute and a laugh Ioan went to join his team in jumper two, while Evan went to jumper three. Going through the motions of pre-flight – not that the jumpers had a whole lot to do in that regard, not compared to Earth vessels at any rate – Evan allowed himself a moment to marvel at everything they had discovered since coming to Atlantis. He would readily admit that the jumpers were by far his favorite part.
Timing their departure carefully, they made it through the gate without being detected by the Genii. His scanners showed no signs of life in the immediate vicinity of the stargate, which was all the better. They also showed the Genii underground complex Major Sheppard had mentioned. Evan glanced to the left where he knew Ioan and his team were, even though he couldn’t see them.
They listened as Sheppard, who had his comms open so they could all hear, and a Genii called Cowan went over the plan again. Cowan insisted on coming along, stating that he had memorized the layout of the Hive ship and that he would not trust the Lanteans to do their part without him present.
Evan’s jaw twitched in annoyance at the disdain and distrust evident in the man’s voice and he shared a determined look with his team as they listened to Sheppard and the rest of AR-1 returned to their jumper with Cowan and another Genii in tow, and as soon as they were on board, the gate began to spin. Checking that everything was still as it should be, Evan prepared to follow them. No one had spoken, aside from a terse, “Have a seat,” from Sheppard.
Once they arrived on the other side, Evan scowled when they heard one of the Genii – Cowan, Evan thought – say, “How many of these ships do you have?” Evan didn’t care for the man’s tone at all. It sounded almost proprietary to his ears, and judging by Sheppard’s curt, “Just the one,” Evan thought he felt the same.
“Alright. Same as last time. Through the front door,” came Sheppard’s voice not long after. Evan checked his screen, adjusting his course slightly to match the major’s and followed him inside, straight through the main entrance. It still baffled Evan that the Wraith had no security in that respect, but then he supposed they probably never had to deal with anyone with the technology or the brass to just go waltzing into a Hive ship before.
Evan and his men watched as the other team disembarked, and John turned to Ford. “Okay. Hold down the fort,” he said with a brief glance to where he knew jumper three to be.
That was another thing that never ceased to amaze Evan. Because of how strong his gene was, John could sense Ancient technology like the jumpers when they were within a certain range. “That’s one thing we really should test one of these days,” he muttered quietly to himself.
“What was that, Major?” Stevenson asked from the co-pilot’s seat.
Evan shook his head. “Nothing. Keep an eye on things. I want to be ready in case they need our help.”
“Yes, sir,” echoed quietly through the jumper as his team acknowledged his order.
They sat in silence as they listened to the other team make their way through the Hive ship. Evan’s stomach flipped at Teyla’s, “These people were cocooned for later feeding.” He shuddered at the mental image that brought forth. He wasn’t sure whether it was a curse or a blessing that he didn’t have an actual visual.
“We don’t have time for this.” Cowan again, thought Evan.
“They could be your people for all you know,” John ground out, disgust clear in his voice. He ordered Teyla to take care of this, which Evan thought likely meant trying to save whomever they had found. Sheppard and McKay went with Cowan. With a jerk of the head Evan had Stevenson monitor Teyla while he remained focused on the others.
Cowan’s, “This is it, but the ship’s plans I memorized did not include how to operate this door,” had Evan paying even closer attention. There was a pause, and then Sheppard’s, “Trying to blow this door’ll make too much noise.” Damn, that couldn’t be good. But Sheppard had said to stay cloaked unless ordered, so all he could do was listen.
McKay’s, “Hm. So, find another way. Okay,” made Evan smile. Back in the mountain, Evan hadn’t much cared for the man. In truth, he hadn’t really known him, but he had heard stories about him and none had been good. The few times he had had dealings with him, McKay’s abrasive behaviour had confirmed the rumors and Evan had decided to steer clear of the man as much as possible.
Ioan, on the other hand, had had more opportunity to spend time with McKay and genuinely liked him. Something that at the time had positively baffled Evan. Now, though, he could see why his brother had taken to the man. Though he supposed it helped that Mac always spoke highly of McKay, and his opinion carried more weight than Evan would ever admit to anyone aside from his brother.
Evan was vaguely aware of Teyla and the other Genii arguing when gunfire erupted. Evan and Stevenson shared a look of horror, then exhaled in relief when they heard Teyla’s consternation over the radio. She didn’t sound hurt, just shocked and pissed. A dangerous combination with her, Evan had learned. Teyla’s voice came over the comms, “Major, we have been discovered.”
A piercing alarm sounded. Outside, Ford straightened, his gun ready. Evan held up a hand when his team made to head out. “Not yet,” he said, hating the thought as much as they did. Sheppard’s voice chimed, “We gotta get outta here. Ford, we’re on our way, hold tight.”
His team breathed as one. While Sheppard had spoken to Ford, the message had been for them. The next few minutes seemed to crawl by as they waited for them to return to the jumper. Thankfully, there were no more sounds of gunfire, and before too long, they came running toward them. Evan wondered where the other Genii was, but wasted no time following John out of the Hive and back to the planet.
As Sheppard had predicted, the minute they had set foot on the Genii homeworld again, Cowan turned on them. Soldiers poured out of the surrounding area, armed to the teeth and trigger-happy. Stevenson huffed. “Well didn’t see that one a mile off, eh?”
The others chuckled. None of them were particularly worried as Cowan attempted to bully AR-1 into giving up their weapons, the jumper, and their C-4. Evan noticed how Teyla seemed to bristle at the betrayal of the Genii. “This is what your father died for? In the name of a people who would lie and steal from those they would call friends?” he heard her say.
“Yeah, well, I lied, too,” Sheppard said. “Jumpers two and three, execute.”
Evan decloaked at once, relieved to see Ioan do the same. He had to admit, it was rather rewarding to see the Genii startle at the sudden appearance of two jumpers hovering close by.
“You didn’t really think we had one ship, did you?” John asked Cowan. Evan snorted at the murderous look that earned Sheppard. John continued,” Tell your people to get back, nobody gets hurt.” When Cowan didn’t budge, the major straightened. “Jumper two, prepare to fire on my mark.”
Evan could just see his brother in the other cockpit. Their eyes met and he gave him a terse nod. Either the Genii would back off, or things were about to get dicey. Sheppard raised his hand to give the order, but paused when Cowan took a step forward. “Wait!”
Stevenson grunted. When Evan glanced at him, he merely shrugged. “The guy’s a coward.”
They could hear Cowan’s warning to Sheppard. “You do not want to make an enemy of the Genii.” Evan hummed in agreement with John’s assurance that it went both ways.
Once AR-1 was back in their jumper, John said, “Time to go home, gentlemen.”
With one last glance at the crowd they were leaving behind, Evan had the terrible feeling that they had not seen the last of the Genii. He really hoped he was wrong, because he didn’t think the Genii were a people who took defeat lightly, and they looked as if they could carry a grudge for a very, very long time.
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